A friend told my wife recently about a dream she experienced that she thought may have been spiritually significant.  I thought i would write a little about my experience with dreams in the hope that they might help others process their own experiences.

A few people i've talked to lately have needed a broad overview of the Bible's approach to sexual purity, so i thought i would consolidate a few of the resources we've put here on the blog.

Andy Stanley from North Point Ministries has a great series of messages entitled "Destinations".  Our small group is going to be discussing them over the next few weeks.  You can check out the individual messages in his podcast series here:

I've just finished uploading the rest of my notes from National Youth Ministry Convention 2009.  They are pretty rough, so please let me know if there are any errors in spelling, punctuation, etc.  There is plenty of really great material there - i'm sure i haven't done it justice in with my note-taking.

• This is session about connecting young people at a deep level
• Assumption 1: the Bible is a critical priority in youth ministry
• Assumption 2: we have a big-time crisis on our hands
• Book: "Putting life together", Philip Hughes, NCLS.
• Experiential markers and techniques: rites of passage, symbolic gestures, etc.
• In the past couple of decades subscriptions to SU daily Bible notes have gone through the floor!
• Model for the posture of a listener: Jesus on the Emmaus Road.

• Background is social work and juvenile justice
• Traditional youth ministry: Friday night social & service program; various activities focused on service like elderly people, single mums, etc. Have sent $25,000 to Hagar fund in the last year. Also have Sunday services and small groups, and special mornings where teens share their SOAP reflections.
• Ideas are not big, dramatic, special, rocket science, etc.
• For a very long time had no idea how he stayed in youth ministry for so long.

• Where are we doing well in mission and ministry?
• "Aspirationals"
• Non European migrants. Many of the largest churches will be almst entirely non European in the next few years
• "Returners"
• In Denmark and Sweden, we are probably seeing the last Christian generation
• Where are we failing: EVERYWHERE ElSE

• Shane Claiborne's survey of strong followers of Jesus: Did Jesus spend time with the poor? 80% say yes. Do you spend time with the poor? 2% say yes. Why? Ash's answer: fear. We're afraid that we might appear stupid, incompetent, or weak.
• Fear: magic vs. faith Where do we go with our fears? Magic: manipulating the spirits to get what we want from the spirits. Western prosperity doctrine is no different to magic. Faith: Surrendering all to God so that God can do through us what God wants done in the world.

• Ministry principle: What you're converted by seems to be what you're coverted to.
• Concerns about youth discipleship today: individualism, insularity, other-worldliness - leading to worldliness (lack of ethical standards now)
• Hunch: our gospel summaries are: individualistic, insular, other-worldly.
• Tracts: probably useful when you have 3 minutes to explain the Gospel. What should the content be? What should we put in our summaries?

Group studies

2009-10-16