tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-196946912012-02-19T11:45:49.346-05:00Isaac Arten is a youth minister, author and speaker based in St. Louis, MO.<br> "You look so young, and then out of your mouth comes this wisdom!" --J.N., on Isaac's teachers' workshop.<br> "Well, I'm sure we're paying you millions of dollars." --B.D., on Isaac's salaryIsaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.comBlogger3911100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-77808639965106041442008-03-31T17:24:00.003-04:002008-12-09T02:01:05.665-05:00

Hi Everybody:For the past year or so I've been playing around with the idea of changing things up here at Rookie Youthworker. I started this blog with the idea that I would always be "a rookie;" always learning something new, always challenging the way I did youth ministry to make it better, more Godly, more effective, but never claiming to be an expert or to have learned all I would need.Today

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-81336409426296020952008-03-31T14:20:00.001-04:002008-03-31T14:20:50.016-04:00

The CORE was this weekend in St. Louis, and the trainers this year are talking about transformation-- both in our selves/our students and then, through that God-inspired transformation, in the world. And this was one of the videos Dave Ambrose showed to make the point about transformed people transforming others as well.

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-70924141578488165962008-03-28T14:22:00.002-04:002008-03-28T14:43:57.156-04:00

"Tell your dad you have an excellent GPA."I was at a transfer day at one of the colleges I've applied to, and the woman checking over my previous credits looked up and said that. It threw me for a second because she'd never met my dad, and I always think I'm being very clear that I'm the only member of my family who lives in, or has any reason to go to, St. Louis. But then I realized what had

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-44751516755533568772008-03-26T16:08:00.002-04:002008-03-26T16:10:10.397-04:00

Lord God,teach us to rely on your grace for our salvation;on your wisdom for our decision-making;your strength for the work you have called us to;and your provision for our daily needs.Send your Holy Spirit into this place to teach us to lead your people.Amen.

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-24305318205297321102008-03-20T20:09:00.004-04:002008-12-09T02:01:05.990-05:00

Marko blogged about this a while back-- a fun cool art project using plastic wrap and clear packing tape to make sculptures of people, or body parts, or anything else you might want to mold. The other week we had a middle school youth group and I was less than prepared... so we made a tape sculpture and used it to talk about welcoming people into our community and how we might do it better.The

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-10338943446512152572008-03-09T13:06:00.002-04:002008-03-09T13:07:49.552-04:00

Hey, I'm headed for a reunion next month with my group of youth ministers who trained together, and part of the event is a trivia night/costume contest. So I need some suggestions for a character from the Bible who would be hard to recognize but would also have a great backstory. Any thoughts?

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-9752954737265756202008-03-01T16:17:00.002-05:002008-03-01T16:24:04.014-05:00

I spotted this column on MSN.com this afternoon, titled "Why Hannah Montana is a bad role model" and it's an interesting read, mostly pointing out boilerplate reasons why following teenage stars too closely is likely to get real kids into trouble. The column predicts that H.M. will be the "next to go all Britney Spears on us." It's a fairly strong criticism the whole way through, and while I

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-58243953684824582082008-02-25T14:15:00.003-05:002008-02-25T14:19:01.899-05:00

"Americans Change Faiths at Rising Rate, Report finds""The report, titled “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey,” depicts a highly fluid and diverse national religious life. If shifts among Protestant denominations are included, then it appears that 44 percent of Americans have switched religious affiliations.For at least a generation, scholars have noted that more Americans are moving among faiths,

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-87489022399775775922008-02-11T11:07:00.000-05:002008-02-11T13:25:40.476-05:00

At a teacher training event last week, we explored a few ways to work with silence as part of a strategy for teaching students (and the teachers themselves) to care for their souls. We started with an Quaker-style prayer that began with a short silence (10-15 seconds by my rough mental count) and then finished with a spoken prayer. Several of the teachers there had experienced similar ways to

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-37241969817707407482008-02-10T13:41:00.000-05:002008-02-10T13:50:02.073-05:00

From the NYTimes today: "The Bible as Graphic Novel, with a Samurai Stranger called Christ""Publishers with an eye for evangelism and for markets have long profited by directing Bibles at niche markets: just-married couples, teenage boys, teenage girls, recovering addicts. Often the lure is cosmetic, like a jazzy new cover.Sales of graphic novels, too, have grown by double digits in recent years.

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-33195029339776906062008-02-08T13:45:00.000-05:002008-02-08T13:54:27.694-05:00

Last night in Kirkwood, MO, just a little down the road from me, a man walked into a City Council meeting and shot 6 people. The full story is here, courtesy of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch."KIRKWOOD — The last things Charles Lee "Cookie" Thornton said to his family were "To God be the glory" and that he loved them.Then Thornton headed to Kirkwood City Hall, gunning down a police officer outside.

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-22023237645880585362008-02-01T17:22:00.000-05:002008-02-01T17:26:04.426-05:00

I had a fishbowl question the other day at Bible study that's got me started on creating my teaching time for our next game night, in two weeks. The question read:"(Please don't call me atheist.) Does God exist?"I respect and admire whichever kid was open and honest enough to put this question in there, and since I tend to tackle basic bits of faith on game nights (when we gather socially for

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-80381902651531665872008-01-30T15:52:00.000-05:002008-01-30T15:54:35.453-05:00

From today's New York Times, this story: "Dip Once or Dip Twice"“The way I would put it is, before you have some dip at a party, look around and ask yourself, would I be willing to kiss everyone here? Because you don’t know who might be double dipping, and those who do are sharing their saliva with you.”Check out the story for the actual results, and then post a guard by your dips at the church

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-53212532924430380002008-01-19T08:08:00.000-05:002008-01-19T08:10:03.461-05:00

First, a serious one-- we're off to the Middle School retreat this morning with three dozen of our finest, so prayers for the trip (we're looking at the Apostles' Creed and what it means to say "I believe in..." every Sunday morning) would be appreciated.Then, on a humorous note, something a very postmodern kid said yesterday in Starbucks:Girl to Boy: "I wouldn't believe you if I was you!"

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-70525926187649137832008-01-16T16:59:00.001-05:002008-01-16T16:59:44.407-05:00

I know it's after Christmas, but I just found this guy today, who makes musical instruments out of vegetables. I've been vowing for years that my children, once I have them, will be encouraged-- if not required-- to play with their food, and this video shows the kind of thing I'm talking about.

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-36994862749438853052008-01-11T14:01:00.000-05:002008-01-11T14:03:10.918-05:00

Walking into the building today, I heard this from one of the kids on the playground, talking to a friend:"Kids hate organized games-- it's true!"Guess what I'm planning this weekend? Yup, the games list for the middle school retreat. That kid's not invited anymore...

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-5532695714757594432008-01-08T11:09:00.000-05:002008-01-08T11:12:36.199-05:00

I saw this story, oddly enough, while I was running last night:"Study shows girls' take on popularity affects weight gain""Those who believed they were unpopular gained more weight over a two-year period than girls who viewed themselves as more popular. Researchers said the study showed how a girl's view of her social status has broader health consequences.The girls in the study were still

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-22604956519974152702008-01-07T13:45:00.000-05:002008-01-07T14:20:33.209-05:00

CSMSG's high school retreat was this weekend and I was preaching from John; three messages-- the first on "He must increase, but I must decrease" from chapter 3; the second on "This happened so that God's power might be seen in his life" from chapter 9; and the third on "I pray that they all may be one" from chapter 17. I felt off; disorganized; unsure of the power of what I was saying. So this

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-45001956752954768502008-01-05T18:32:00.001-05:002008-01-05T18:33:18.750-05:00

(On the ropes course) P: "I like my way better. It hurts more and makes me feel more manly!"

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-4464800715260245532008-01-04T11:15:00.000-05:002008-01-04T12:16:59.317-05:00

In the beginning, God gave us a rhythm of work-rest-worship so that we would be able to maintain our relationship with Him while leading effective and productive lives. He gave us natural seasons so that we wouldn't have to do everything all the time, but focus on what was right for the season. And one of the most beautiful insights in "The Message" is the passage about taking on Jesus' yoke and

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-89745988919082715422007-12-30T12:11:00.000-05:002008-12-09T02:01:06.255-05:00

The youth ministry at CSMSG lost one of its greatest friends last week-- the 1998 (or so) Chevy Suburban our program coordinator drove for years. Not only did it serve her family, it hauled our equipment and sleeping bags on mission trips, retreats and special events all over our city. We'll definitely miss it, even if we do find another family who can say, "No problem; my car fits seven!"

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-13442038112468471812007-12-24T12:46:00.000-05:002008-12-09T02:01:06.406-05:00

All God's best blessings on your Christmas and the New Year, from the youth ministry at St. Michael and St. George, in St. Louis, MO!May He use you today to bring His love to your students and their families, even if you don't know how you did it.And may the Holy Spirit rest on you as you stand in Christ's presence tonight.

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-27722759975746734842007-12-19T11:17:00.000-05:002007-12-19T16:09:30.756-05:00

My students had started to ask me, a few weeks ago, about what happens to people who don't believe in Jesus when they die. A lot of conversations I've had with students who are having a hard time in their faith lives revolve around, "why would God leave out of heaven all those good people who just decided not to believe the same things we do?"One of my kids had left a question in the fishbowl

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-89468523173817491652007-12-18T12:47:00.000-05:002007-12-18T12:50:06.957-05:00

I ran across this story on "Nightline" last night, about a ministry that spreads Christ's message by saying what people are thinking, then confronting those words with the Bible. Any thoughts?"Jumping up and down, getting hit by chairs and telling girls they are fat is hardly the image of a Catholic preacher. But for Justin Fatica, a 29-year-old unordained priest and leader of a nonprofit called

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-83274776047925138312007-12-12T13:48:00.000-05:002007-12-12T13:51:13.175-05:00

In staff meeting this morning I had nothing to report. Since I'm not normally allowed to have nothing to say (my boss likes hearing about what we're up to) I ended my little paragraph this way:"As we come closer to Christmas and are assaulted by televisions telling us what we really want, the message I'm giving the youth group is, 'Be very glad that neither from our parents or from God are we

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-34345186627880031792007-12-11T15:34:00.000-05:002007-12-11T15:44:18.520-05:00

One of the "Tomb Raider" movies featured a set of wingsuits that helped the two leads escape some bad situation, and the clip from that movie was what made me wonder if they'd just come up with the idea because you can do that in video games... apparently, around the world, there are a few inventors and daredevils trying to fly. This article explains it, from the New York Times: "Flying Humans,

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-80552518373090204992007-12-07T18:09:00.000-05:002007-12-07T18:19:42.485-05:00

My friend Karl and I were talking last night and he asked me what I thought about the Golden Compass (which opened today in theaters) and the furor it's been creating among religious people who aren't going to see it and atheists who (apparently) celebrate the strongly anti-religious movie coming out at Christmas time. Here were our thoughts:Overall, the movie's interesting, but nothing to be

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-68772167624048092792007-12-07T14:03:00.000-05:002007-12-07T14:07:53.502-05:00

These two conversations illustrate the lack of middle ground on Wednesday nights; either we really get it or we really don't:Seventh-grader at dinner: "If I had enough armpit hair, I'd like to braid it!"His friend: "Hey, yeah! That's a great idea!" (They start looking at their armpits.)Isaac: (wads up napkin and throws it at them) "I'm throwing a flag on this conversation!"Sixth-grader, in small

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-91309255650477864232007-12-05T21:44:00.001-05:002007-12-05T21:44:45.741-05:00

I showed this to my youth group tonight as we started our Bible study and they watched it really carefully. They were especially trying to figure out which veggies the group actually uses.

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-85361935331905943762007-12-04T15:46:00.000-05:002007-12-04T15:49:19.379-05:00

Hey everybody: I'm planning my winter retreat for the high schoolers and need some ideas. God's been nudging me that this group needs to spend the weekend experiencing a whole Gospel, not just a piece of it, so the first session we have together involves some lectio divina work where each person takes a section, reads it mindfully, then summarizes it for the group so we start to see some of the

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-60739990939016613662007-11-20T13:05:00.000-05:002008-12-09T02:01:06.591-05:00

Last year we established a tradition with our middle school youth group that they would, at one of their monthly events, make care packages for the college students from CSMSG. This past weekend we held our second Cookie Night. Part one of the evening is making cookies (we use big tubs of premixed dough for efficiency's sake) and part two is writing notes to the college students. I usually put

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-64535102878437735302007-11-19T18:06:00.000-05:002007-11-19T18:13:56.132-05:00

Take this news story, via Reuters, and use it to illustrate how people will grab at any solution, short of bringing it to God, to solve our problems.Here's a quote: NICOSIA (Reuters) - Having marital problems? Have you tried putting egg in your underpants?A woman in Cyprus is on trial for sorcery after pledging to shake off a curse apparently plaguing a man's relationship with his wife and

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-51179449331243763682007-11-13T11:08:00.000-05:002008-12-09T02:01:06.690-05:00

I opened this book and the page I looked at was my "favorite" (when I'm talking to kids, and in a bad mood) Bible story: the one where the bears ate the children.Get this book: "Rejected Sunday School Lessons"-- it's 20 or so perfect examples of how not to do Bible study, and would be useful for training new adult volunteers or Sunday School teachers.It's also hilarious. With a capital Arious!(

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-59393684391110634952007-11-12T18:31:00.000-05:002007-11-12T18:46:23.645-05:00

I had a list of phone calls to make in between our goal-setting meetings today, and called one of my not-so-involved kids to invite her back to our Wednesday night Bible study.Me: Hi, I just wanted to find out if you were going to be here on Wednesday for Bible study.NIK: Probably not.Me: Oh, sad! How come?NIK: (huge silence)Me: Any particular reasons?NIK: (starts crumpling a bag of chips near

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-61410221483468568492007-11-11T19:40:00.000-05:002007-11-11T19:51:23.073-05:00

Tonight we had our first regular high school group get-together. I'm much more creative when it comes to the middle school group, honestly, so when I was inviting people to this one what I said was, "This is your chance to tell me what the group will be doing the rest of the year."We do a "Sunday night Coffeehouse" format, where I bring in my espresso maker (soon to be replaced with two permanent

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-50624382135316431042007-11-10T13:31:00.000-05:002007-11-10T14:12:35.504-05:00

This story caught my eye this morning; I'd vaguely followed the debate over re-authorizing the Tridentine Mass in the Catholic Church, but hadn't made a connection to a book I'd read called "The New Faithful" which was about Christian orthodoxy and how young people are interested in it again.“I have no memory of the Latin Mass from my childhood,” Anne McLaughlin said at St. Leo’s. “But for me it’

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-28229695781544567242007-11-09T12:00:00.000-05:002007-11-07T21:30:46.862-05:00

An article in the New York Times magazine last week reviewed two books coming out in the next few months, one on an atheist turning Christian, and the other about a Christian turning agnostic. This column, "Suffering, Evil and the Existence of God" summarizes both books.[T]he central problem of theodicy [is] the existence of suffering and evil in a world presided over by an all powerful and

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-35958719316887806582007-11-06T15:14:00.000-05:002007-11-06T16:25:01.031-05:00

I just ran across this site via Dave Walker's blog at Cartoon Church, and it's got every verse in the Bible ranked according to its popularity on the Internet. The top 5 are:John chapter 3 verse 16 "For God so loved the world..."John chapter 1 verse 1 "In the beginning was the Word..."John chapter 14 verse 6 "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life..."Matthew chapter 28 verse 19 "Go therefore and

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-37510746431992490032007-11-06T12:00:00.000-05:002007-11-06T16:57:06.776-05:00

The most compelling thing Marko said yesterday when he closed the St. Louis YS convention was "In the future of youth ministry, let's be not-driven. Instead, let's be present." The comment came out of a conversation on his blog about what we in ministry hope the future looks like. It's a really cool idea. What if we weren't pushed along by whatever system we were using, or striving to create one,

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-79955273970295480592007-11-05T11:32:00.000-05:002007-11-05T11:46:34.331-05:00

Mark Matlock, who founded Wisdom Works Ministries, led a seminar this morning on Mentoring with Wisdom in Mind. His main idea was that when we teach wisdom, we're giving students a framework of general rules and principles that they can apply to situations in their lives in order to make Godly decisions about them.Since I'm in a teacher education program at the moment, backing up my youth

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-6782065764599379362007-11-04T16:31:00.000-05:002007-11-04T18:00:11.224-05:00

Timothy Eldred is teaching, this afternoon, on "Creating a Ministry that Launches Students into Action." His opening line was "Either I'm going to invigorate you this afternoon or infuriate you. And I'm okay with either one." What he said: The way we do ministry is flawed, and the way we feel shouldn't matter in how we measure results. What ought to matter is numbers. Kids aren't apathetic; they

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-4987062300210061792007-11-04T16:24:00.000-05:002007-11-04T16:31:12.187-05:00

So this is what youth ministers really do at conventions... thanks to the folks at Uth Stuph for bringing the tricycles!

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-68674791469495296512007-11-03T14:51:00.000-04:002007-11-03T15:03:45.771-04:00

A lot of the places downtown seem to have limited hours; why not explore a little more of the St. Louis area? (Okay, that sounded super-cheesy. Sorry.) Get on the Metrolink going west (exit the convention center and go left on 7th St. to the escalator down to the tunnel. Get off at the Richmond Heights stop and wander across the street to the St. Louis Galleria mall. Before you even cross the

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-55784583249854786602007-11-03T14:30:00.000-04:002007-11-03T14:50:23.046-04:00

Lynne Hybels spoke this morning at the general session and told a very personal story about how she acted for years as if God daily "sucked the life out of his followers" by giving them heavy burdens of work and obedience, how she did ministry with her own soul on "empty" and finally, in her brokenness, met God who loves her and showed her the real way He called her to follow. She talked about

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-12487753475693727742007-11-02T11:01:00.000-04:002007-11-02T12:34:27.435-04:00

I'm blogging this morning from a seminar with Dave Ambrose subtitled "Rediscovering the Ancient Art of Listening to God." Originally, I intended to take a lot of student leadership courses, and then the schedule had them all overlapping. The other theme that caught my eye was soul-care and spiritual direction type topics, and I took those two circumstances as a little sign to adjust my course for

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-46731950395308654282007-11-01T18:31:00.000-04:002007-11-01T18:34:27.969-04:00

St. Louis' local newspaper: The Post-Dispatch has a pretty good entertainment section that reviews restaurants and other fun places and events.And the Riverfront Times, an independent newspaper in town, does even more of that.And Sauce Magazine focuses just on places to eat. If you have time to do some research, use these links to help you get the most out of St. Louis!

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-50145683352820281682007-11-01T13:39:00.001-04:002007-11-01T13:58:00.418-04:00

You're about to spend a week in my hometown, and I'm thrilled you're here! Here's a few basic notes about St. Louis that might be helpful. Every St. Louis Bread Co. location has free Wi-Fi. So when you're eating lunch and need to quick check your Facebook, go there. The convention center has it too, for those of us who tend to type during things.Forest Park is here, and one of the largest city

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-90023236516896338582007-10-29T15:33:00.000-04:002007-10-29T16:06:27.749-04:00

The instructions read: "Bonus points: Include your youth minister in one of your videos."The kids ran up to me and said: "Isaac! We have to catch you on tape!"I said: "Okay."Here's what happened.

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-21432909351998330362007-10-26T13:33:00.000-04:002007-10-26T13:42:16.184-04:00

On the plane from Denver to STL yesterday, I overheard the following four sentences in rapid succession."Make sure you tell them it's not my fault we missed the plane.""They know we're late for everything.""I know a lot of those are my fault.""I just don't want the reputation of someone who's always late."At the moment, I'm reading Steven James' book "Story" which is about the mystery that is

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-15314568061880027962007-10-25T01:06:00.001-04:002007-10-25T01:18:15.322-04:00

Level 1 of the summit finished up today, so I'm flying home in the morning, and today was the moment of truth. I gave my 20-minute message today, and then had 1-on-1 time with a coach who walked me through the tape and pointed out some things.T showed me today that I need to spend more time preparing the normal messages that I do, which are 2 minutes and 10 minutes, on Sundays and Wednesdays,

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-34078654440330836062007-10-23T21:35:00.000-04:002007-10-23T22:05:24.156-04:00

Driving from my hotel to Group's HQ, I can see the Rocky Mountains the whole way down, and it's amazing. There was ice on the windshield this morning but I'm from Michigan; that was nothing. I didn't wait in the car for the defroster, just hopped out with the ice scraper and then off I went. Today I have had conversations about what the biggest challenges in ministry are; how accountability to

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-4456861634967702592007-10-22T22:14:00.000-04:002007-10-22T22:27:09.914-04:00

I flew out to Loveland this morning to be part of Group Publishing's communicators' summit, and for the only time I can ever remember, all of my flights, shuttles and various legs of the trip happened on time, so I got here just early enough to change out of my travel clothes and run over to Group headquarters. The group is a mix of children's ministers, youth ministers, a few senior pastors,

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-42483702961451846462007-10-21T14:56:00.000-04:002007-10-21T16:03:17.984-04:00

This week pray for my small group leaders-- they are flying solo on Wednesday night and while I know they're up for it, some of them are a little nervous. I'll be out at Group's headquarters for a speakers' training workshop (and hopefully blogging from there) and completely forgot that I'd need to set up some system for covering Wednesday Bible study, until last Wednesday. So the leaders agreed

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-53788057734038881022007-10-17T13:02:00.000-04:002007-10-17T13:06:01.169-04:00

An article in the NYTimes today showcases some research about family dinner time; apparently, eating together is one of the most powerful influences on kids' diet (and has an impact on other behaviors) and things like TV don't distract from that as much as we've thought.“Obviously, we want people eating family meals, and we want them to turn the TV off,” said Shira Feldman, public health

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-21179208234370047552007-10-17T11:29:00.000-04:002007-10-17T11:49:41.114-04:00

A few things I learned from the last series of lock-ins we did here at CSMSG.Strings of Christmas lights make great safety lighting through the hallways-- kids can play games "in the dark" and I can see my way around.Give the adult leaders the Bible study guides before Bible study actually starts. One adult at the 8th grade event said, "Well, I have gone into presentations with less preparation

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-6489061172280583302007-10-16T11:50:00.000-04:002008-12-09T02:01:07.070-05:00

Over the summer, the staff at Fortune Lake led a prayer walk, and one of the stations was about expressing our identity as we see it, and considering our identity the way God sees it. This photo was the board after that station was over, the last week of camp. "I am broken like Christ" made me a little teary. (Click the photo to see it full-size and read it better.) (credit to my friend LB on

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-5750153526724502802007-10-14T12:34:00.001-04:002007-10-14T12:41:36.590-04:00

(while playing Apples to Apples, the world's greatest game next to chess and Monopoly): You can't cuddle up to Los Angeles, but you could with a bottle of soy sauce!(at the beginning of the A2A game):PK: "And there's Isaac-- he's not my friend."Isaac: "Even if I'm not your friend, I'm still your brother in Christ."PK: (thinks for a second) "Yeah, well, just don't tell anybody about that!"

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-4563050539615988422007-10-07T14:18:00.000-04:002007-10-07T14:22:43.113-04:00

In the NY Times this morning, this article about churches using Halo 3 in their youth programs."Thou Shalt Not Kill, Except in a popular video game at church""Martial images in literature or movies popular with religious people are not new. The popular “Left Behind” series of books — it also spawned a video game — dealt with the conflict preceding the second coming of Christ. Playing Halo is “no

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-47026037140442447422007-10-06T13:10:00.000-04:002007-10-06T13:21:42.086-04:00

I'm not entirely sure what this essayist is saying, but there's an article about Facebook attempting to grow up in the NY Times Op-Ed section today, called "The Fakebook Generation.""Facebook did not become popular because it was a functional tool — after all, most college students live in close quarters with the majority of their Facebook friends and have no need for social networking. Instead,

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-50028584754979360162007-10-06T12:41:00.000-04:002007-10-06T13:07:45.593-04:00

I thoroughly enjoyed the game this morning. My kids are solid players and they put up a good fight, but ultimately lost 2-0. I also had some time to think, while I was watching, of a list of suggestions for the powers that be who decide how field hockey is played, that would improve the game. As a disclaimer, I mentioned a few of them to one of my students who plays, and she immediately said, "

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-20887548372926843632007-10-03T21:51:00.001-04:002007-10-03T21:55:53.333-04:00

I'm trying to pick a study Bible for my small group and youth groups to use here at the church; right now we have the plain New Revised Standard, the pew version, with no footnotes or other useful goodies. I like having the Word straight up like that, but I also like having a version that includes some background and cross-references so that my kids start to get that it's one big picture, not a

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-3357508454578076452007-10-03T16:56:00.000-04:002008-12-09T02:01:07.244-05:00

I saw this blog mentioned on the NYTimes website a while back and forgot to go look at the actual blog until today-- it's called "Indexed" and the author does charts that show odd relationships between things, drawn on index cards. Most of them are very funny: check it out!

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-34359809299976588792007-10-01T16:32:00.000-04:002008-12-09T02:01:07.405-05:00

The exercise is: get a tent pole. Either grab one from an actual tent, or put together two tent pole repair kits, leaving out one segment. Have people stand in lines on either side. They need to hold their index fingers out, alternating with the people on the other side of the line. A person on either end of the line holds the tent pole just above the students' fingers while you give the

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-10244643149969737102007-10-01T11:58:00.000-04:002007-10-01T12:03:09.913-04:00

Here's a Bible study I did this weekend on the 8th grade lock-in. We used the movie "Night at the Museum" which is a good, fun, mostly clean movie that came out around Christmas in 2006.What’s Your “Rs?”Check-InWhat’s the first thing your family ever made you responsible for?What do you know?What kinds of things do adults “have to” do?From the MovieWhich characters lived up to their

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-77086648395414669812007-09-28T19:31:00.000-04:002007-09-28T20:22:25.104-04:00

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-49989363317062734232007-09-28T19:21:00.000-04:002007-09-28T19:27:21.203-04:00

M.W., one of my priests here at CSMSG, left a printout in my mailbox today called "Kids These Days: What they Don't Want from the Church." It's worth a read.A quote:"Preach the gospel full on…ditto. Tell it like it is and let the students grow in holiness. Yes, they will fail. Who doesn’t? But let them fail knowing what Christ and his Church expects of them. Lowering the moral bar comes across as

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-83948378779470557752007-09-26T18:15:00.000-04:002007-09-26T18:24:04.181-04:00

Here's one of those scary/gross/a little funny stories that show up now and then, today via the Post-Dispatch."Man buys smoker, finds human leg inside.""Police said the man opened up the smoker and saw what he thought was a piece of driftwood wrapped in paper. When he unwrapped it, he found a human leg, cut off 2 to 3 inches above the knee.[The leg's ] mother explained her son had his leg

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-92213185886774419172007-09-24T11:58:00.000-04:002007-09-24T12:06:49.114-04:00

One of our church groups that I'd spoken to a while back called me last Monday to ask if I could fill in for the priest who regularly leads their Bible study on Tuesday morning before they have lunch. I had a class on Tuesday so couldn't make it back in time (I did join them for lunch, though) but offered to leave them a format so they could guide themselves through the chapter.A couple of the

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-86871086951765571702007-09-23T15:19:00.001-04:002007-09-23T15:24:59.519-04:00

One of my kids came up to me after our church school classes let out today and asked, "Are you really as obsessed with God as you were down in the gym this morning?" (Each week we gather for 20 minutes or so of fellowship as a whole group before they break off into classes, and each week I do a Gospel minute where I share a story about the Gospel lesson that applies to the students' lives. That's

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-68578791624524267312007-09-19T15:10:00.001-04:002007-09-19T15:17:12.225-04:00

From a Post-Dispatch article today, via AP: "At rail stations and shopping malls around the world, reports are popping up of people, particularly young children, getting their toes caught in escalators.According to reports appearing across the United States and as far away as Singapore and Japan, entrapments occur because of two of the biggest selling points of shoes like Crocs: their flexibility

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-17102644665656561132007-09-17T19:13:00.000-04:002008-12-09T02:01:07.564-05:00

10. Because Jesus said, "Go surf!" Oh, wait... that's "serve."9. That warm and fuzzy feeling you get afterward is perfectly legal.8. You'll meet people who go to all the other high schools in St. Louis.7. You could get your picture on next year's top 10 list.6. Because the world needs more sandwiches.5. Girls think it's hot when you volunteer.4. Because ripped and dirty clothes are fashionable

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-64704377551486196482007-09-17T19:09:00.000-04:002007-09-17T19:12:08.134-04:00

This time from Rev. Michael Blewett, one of the priests here at CSMSG, and posted on his blog."When in trouble, name names."Michael was right on the money this week. I'm working on a few original posts, but it's the day after the September kickoff and I'm in the middle of the whirlwind, and trying to clean up and put things back where I found them in my youth room. For the last month I've just

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-8452708927266469432007-09-14T14:23:00.000-04:002007-09-14T14:42:18.765-04:00

Back on August 12, I had my first chance to give the sermon in the main service on a Sunday morning. I'm definitely used to giving Gospel minutes during our fellowship time after church, or messages to the youth group every month when we meet there, but this was a whole other animal. Here's the sermon. When you click the link it'll take you to the sermon page, and then just click my name (I'm the

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-90671762101863190442007-09-13T14:00:00.000-04:002007-09-13T14:10:50.125-04:00

As part of this year's curriculum, I'm working on a journal that goes along with our high school lessons, which are based around topics students have asked questions about, and designed to teach what a Christian approach to those topics is like. The journal is something we haven't done before.Has anyone had any particular success with journaling, or any notable difficulties, that would give me

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-18198138081865763652007-09-12T12:40:00.000-04:002007-09-12T14:07:51.553-04:00

I was listening to the latest Car Talk podcast (love those guys!) and heard them reference an ad campaign for an investment company that used the line, "The only place where 'success' comes before 'preparation' is in the dictionary."Anyone have a way we can use this as an illustration? I have the feeling it's a good one.

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-12371160621124989272007-09-09T15:22:00.000-04:002007-09-09T15:29:02.785-04:00

On my way out the door to go look for kids the other day, I realized that I'd forgotten to pick a book off my shelf to bring to Starbucks, and asked my program director if she had anything I hadn't read (or loaned her my copy of). She grabbed Mark Yaconelli's "Contemplative Youth Ministry" which I'd been meaning to get into.Mark makes the point that the rarest gift teenagers have is an adult

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-80457793463091622072007-09-08T13:21:00.000-04:002007-09-08T14:41:53.630-04:00

Yesterday was a busy day, and it's on days like that when the most random ideas strike me as excellent--So there I was, sitting in Starbucks, and I had the idea for a very reliable volunteer interview scenario. Find a Starbucks near a middle school (within walking distance) and arrange to interview your new volunteer there on a Friday afternoon; in fact, plan to meet 20 minutes after the first

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-15439718470140559652007-09-07T15:31:00.001-04:002007-09-07T15:32:42.778-04:00

This past week in our Wednesday small group night, we asked our students to talk about how a new person should feel at his/her first small group night. G, one of the most enthusiastic kids, had this answer:"They should feel worried... really worried! Because then, when they realize how awesome it is, they'll REALLY want to come back!"

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-9281019314771948032007-09-07T14:05:00.000-04:002007-09-07T14:14:38.352-04:00

One of my students asked me the other day, "Do you know any good topics for debates?" Her homework was to write a short (1-2 minute) speech on a topic that people could debate. (The class wouldn't actively debate each topic, but the assignment was supposed to test the students' understanding of what topics will bring out lively debate.)The advice I gave was, "You should make the speech about

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-46647593706933740252007-09-03T16:32:00.000-04:002007-09-03T16:39:39.345-04:00

Here's a lesson from the curriculum we've been developing for our fall semester with the high school class. "Melvin the Christian" is an idea one of the teachers had at the end of last year-- build a chicken-wire frame, probably half-scale, of a person's body and over the year, as we talk about what it takes to live a Christian life, add layers of papier-mache, then clothes and other details, to

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-84370797344284878012007-09-02T15:29:00.001-04:002007-09-02T15:30:14.247-04:00

Best question that came into the Wednesday night fishbowl (the fishbowl's for questions that don't fit that night's topic but that people have to know):Why is the Mona Lisa so famous?(Anyone want to take a stab at that one before Wednesday?)

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-9649567601075225422007-08-31T13:26:00.000-04:002008-12-09T02:01:07.928-05:00

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-89372616002116834042007-08-31T12:52:00.000-04:002007-08-31T12:57:17.220-04:00

We're putting together an updated songbook for our children's chapel service, and I walked into our clergy assistant's office today to find a sheet on her desk with one of my all-time favorite camp songs on it."I love this song!" I said, not noticing that she was pulling all those pages out."Read the whole thing," she told me. The first verse was good: "I will call upon the Lord/who is worthy to

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-85437516105545942762007-08-29T11:36:00.000-04:002007-08-29T11:42:34.583-04:00

An op-ed piece in the NYTimes today describes "the dark night of the soul," and what it means for a person's faith, and it's a good read.There's a reason we call for "authenticity" in youth ministry today, and this story really throws light on how foolish it is to try and make the Christian life look easy to nonbelievers, new believers or anyone else. It's ridiculous to hide the hard times we

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-35915179332997875932007-08-27T14:00:00.000-04:002007-08-27T14:04:40.851-04:00

I found an article in my mailbox today, copied from the Post-Dispatch (I'll edit in a link later, in a hurry just now) about Mother Teresa's writings to her confessors and confidants about how she experienced a really long time (years and years) of feeling like God was not with her. The mom who mentioned this story to me yesterday, before I saw the paper itself, seemed a little shaken by it, but

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-91519794541956723482007-08-19T21:29:00.001-04:002007-08-19T21:33:11.916-04:00

At the beginning of small group, between dinner/check-in and actually getting started, I pull the questions out of the fishbowl on the table that kids have left there for me from the week before. (This is the way we keep ourselves on task during the group; if someone has a question that doesn't connect to the topic, we put it in the fishbowl for the next week.)The question was "Why do we end

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-16321232854014457242007-08-14T10:44:00.000-04:002007-08-14T10:48:02.677-04:00

Humans today are apparently trapped in a virtual world, an environment created by advanced "posthumans," according to this story in the NY Times today."My gut feeling is that the odds are better than 20 percent, maybe better than even. I think it’s highly likely that civilization could endure to produce those supercomputers. And if owners of the computers were anything like the millions of people

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-34131898885399850452007-08-13T17:20:00.000-04:002007-08-13T17:25:44.926-04:00

A while ago I read an article about how while recycling had gotten trendy over the past few years, no one's ever paid much attention to the "reduce" and "reuse" parts of the original triangle. I'm a proud Goodwill shopper and talk about donating clothes and buying used with my kids fairly often, as a form of stewardship, and some of the folks (guys especially) I talk to are really uncomfortable

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-31719562780939416372007-08-13T10:29:00.000-04:002007-08-13T10:34:15.661-04:00

I preached yesterday, in the "big church," at all three services. Today, I'm really tired from all that, but still laughing because of my students. I'd been given the idea to include some material in my sermon about the students at our church, since I have a perspective on them that the other preachers generally don't use. And so during the main service, I talked directly to the youth group in

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-65414934173252437732007-08-07T10:27:00.000-04:002007-08-07T10:36:21.642-04:00

The other day I was watching "My Super Sweet 16" on MTV-- for anyone who's unfamiliar, this is a show that gives us all a good look at 16th birthday parties thrown by kids whose parents want to buy their love or can't fight their sense of entitlement.The two girls featured on the show (they had the same birthday, so shared the party) asked all their guests to donate money to St. Jude Children's

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-29678103251986949712007-08-06T11:01:00.001-04:002007-08-06T11:09:51.130-04:00

Last week, a friend from here at church dropped off a fragrant bag at my office. In it was about a cup of "starter" batter for a batch of Amish friendship bread. The bread, a tradition probably started by the Amish, is passed on in starter form from one friend to another; the recipient works the bag for 10 days, sometimes adding ingredients, mostly just mushing it up to keep it from being

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-66905378484397441492007-08-03T08:47:00.000-04:002007-08-03T08:50:54.942-04:00

I was sitting in Starbucks the other day, reading “The New Faithful” by Colleen Carroll, and noticed a job interview happening at a table across the cafe from me. This made me think about the number of job interviews I'd seen happening there since I moved to St. Louis-- every time I walk into a Starbucks store, someone's trying to get a job, either at the store, or meeting an interviewer at this

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-15659719170272551912007-06-19T10:59:00.001-04:002007-06-19T11:01:44.158-04:00

Found this story on Yahoo today, courtesy of the Associated Press: "Vatican's 10 commandments for drivers""An unusual document from the Vatican's office for migrants and itinerant people also warned that cars can be "an occasion of sin" — particularly when they are used for dangerous passing or for prostitution.It warned about the effects of road rage, saying driving can bring out "primitive"

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-61209270803717566942007-06-06T11:04:00.000-04:002007-06-06T11:05:41.060-04:00

I posted one of these a few days ago, and since then another one has been kicking around in my mind, something I probably should have gotten a long time ago, and I'm not entirely sure why it just appeared.It isn't that God starts speaking when I start listening.It's that God's speaking all the time, and when I start listening, I hear Him.

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-87345272291400803892007-06-04T11:06:00.000-04:002008-12-09T02:01:08.250-05:00

...courtesy of the P.K.s

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-12534344239940352012007-06-04T10:46:00.000-04:002007-06-04T11:06:02.363-04:00

The Post-Dispatch, here in St. Louis, ran this story about researchers at Wash. U. who are researching religion as an evolutionary response:Perhaps since the time of Galileo, science and religion have had a gentleman's agreement: You stay out of my business, and I'll stay out of yours. Not any longer. A cadre of scientists, including Washington University anthropologist Pascal Boyer, are trying

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-48916259577079188922007-05-30T14:25:00.001-04:002007-05-30T18:12:07.171-04:00

Dear Scientists of the world,Please show us that the reason you came to be a scientist is because you wondered about something you didn't know, and that wonder consumed you and drove you.When someone writes a newspaper article about a new discovery you made, please tell us how many wrong turns your investigation took, how many times you asked the wrong question or missed something. Tell us about

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-51357731451075220992007-05-25T20:53:00.000-04:002007-05-25T21:07:10.630-04:00

...as this article from the Christian Science Monitor points out. "The rising interest in spirituality has led many more students to enroll in religion courses or to major in religion, reports The New York Times. Many students choose to live in dorms that allow a focus on matters of faith. Often, these students were raised by baby-boomer parents who did not impose a religion on them, but when

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-83411915483532035702007-05-25T18:11:00.000-04:002007-05-25T18:17:19.430-04:00

I had a whole discussion this week with my small group about how they weren't going to read their Bibles. We had a dare, since we're in a series right now about how to use the Bible, which was to pick a number between 3 and 8, and read the Bible that many days between group meetings. The discussion then ran through some of the following comments:Buddhist student and pastor's kid: "We already know

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19694691.post-15242432013483693652007-05-22T12:05:00.000-04:002007-05-22T12:13:24.695-04:00

From Reuters, this story:HONG KONG (Reuters) - "Hong Kong's media regulator has rejected calls to reclassify the Bible as an indecent publication following more than 2,000 complaints about its sexual and violent content, including rape and incest...Publications classified as indecent in Hong Kong can only be bought by people aged over 18 and must be sealed in a wrapper with a statutory warning

Isaac, The Rookiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04904593533899279754noreply@blogger.com0