March 2009 – Page 4 – Nickcarnes.com

March 10, 2009August 17, 2009

One in Fifty US Children Homeless

I saw this story today…

One of every 50 American children experiences homelessness, according to a new report that says most states have inadequate plans to address the worsening and often-overlooked problem.

The report being released Tuesday by the National Center on Family Homelessness gives Connecticut the best ranking. Texas is at the bottom.

“These kids are the innocent victims, yet it seems somehow or other they get left out,” said the center’s president, Dr. Ellen Bassuk. “Why are they America’s outcasts?” [Read Entire Story Here]

Continue reading “One in Fifty US Children Homeless”

March 9, 2009

The Official “You Need Jesus T-Shirt”

You better hurry! It was on sale at the Evans, Georgia Wal-Mart for $1

I almost bought it for myself, but it was a Large and I don’t want to live that nightmare again!

I may regret passing it up, but hey, if one of my friends buys it, maybe I can read it…often.

March 6, 2009March 6, 2009

Kingdom Day Right Around the Corner

PDYM Kingdom Day is right around the corner and will be here before you know it. Kingdom Day is a ONE day service project where the church comes together as ONE body to accomplish ONE purpose. The Church and Christians talk a lot…there is no doubt about that, but we are usually found absent when it comes time to back that talk up.

Kingdom Day is all about the Church putting our hands and feet where our mouth is. We say we love…we’re going to show it. We talk about sacrifice…we’re going to give it. I hope you will join with us on April 25th for Kingdom Day.

Kingdom Day has been encouraging student ministries all across the US to partner with another student ministry in their community to work together (across denominational lines), as One body to serve those who are less fortunate than we are. Every group is atonymous and is working on the project they feel led to do for their community. Our goal is to go beyond talking about a Gospel of love to acting it out. One group plans on working on a local camp, other groups are working soup kitchens, while others are seeking out shut ins to assist with cleaning their homes and cleaning up their yards.

The Question I want you to ask yourself is this, “Is there a need in our community that our student ministries can tackle?” If there is, I encourage you to contact a student ministry in your area and plan a service project with them for Saturday, April 25. Some churches have talked about participating in Kingdom Day as an entire body with other churches, so don’t let the word Student Ministry narrow your focus, adults are more than welcome to participate as well.

The Purpose Driven Youth Ministry is fueling Kingdom Day, but you do not have to follow the PDYM paradigm for your ministry to participate. If you plan on attending PDYM the Conference at Saddleback on March 24-27, we would love to meet you. We’ll be participating in the conference at some point. If you want to attend, there is still time and room at the conference, you can register HERE, if you are not attending because of finances, contact us, and I can get you in touch with someone who can assist with a discount.

Click Here to Register your Group.
Click Here to Follow PDYM Kingdom Day on Twitter.

March 5, 2009

Its Not Reality TV…Its Marketing TV

I’ve heard a lot of chatter this morning on Twitter and some blogs about the outrage that the judges on American Idol brough Tatiana Del Torro back onto the show. It was just a few days ago the chatter on Twitter and the blogs was about the outrage that Jason Mesnick was allowed to dump his fincee Melissa on the Bachelor. After all, she was the girl he selected as his fiancee when he dumped Molly, who is the girl he reunited with as soon as he dumped Melissa. What single guy would not love to be on this show? Really? You get to select from like 25 ladies, make out with them, get an all expense paid vacation to date these girls, and then you get to dump them and watch them cry, but oh wait, if you make the wrong choice, the show will help you get the one you let slip away back.

Tatiana on the other hand is one of the most annoying contestans that has ever been on American Idol. She was not voted by the fans to remain on the show, but apparently American Idol felt we got it wrong, so what did they do? They allowed the judges to do one of those “bring an idol back” sessions (which they have not done consistantly) to bring miss Drama queen back into our living rooms. Haha! And you thought this was reality tv!

No, this is Marketing TV, and part of that is to make you believe you are in control, but you’re not. I am convinced that the Bachelor had to cover their poor video editing, which a normal person caught. It was just a few weeks ago when Twitter and You Tube blew up over a video where someone discovered that Jason was going to select Melissa. See, Melissa wore a pinky ring and in the final shot (where it shows Jason proposing) you cannot see the girl’s face, but you can see her pinky ring. I believe this killed the ratings for the final show. Sure it could have boosted the ratings, but the whole ordeal went a little too far. The reunion show with Jason and Molly was too staged.

Finally, you have Tatiana Del Torro, oh yeah, and Nick Mitchell on American Idol. They define two of the horrible selections made by the judges this season. Of course there is also the swimsuit girl who didn’t get in on musical talent. The problem with American Idol and Tatiana and Nick is the fact that this is American Idol. The fans agree they are not “American Idols” even if they can sing a little. They have preached for years that an American Idol is a complete package. Who knows, maybe they have been wrong this entire time since only about 3 American Idols have ended up being American Idols and there was that guy who lost and made it bigger than the other 4 duds combined. So just remember when you are calling in to cast your vote, most of these people did not just walk in off the street, the show knows a lot more about them than you and I will ever know. Most of the final contestants have been doing music for years! The first few rounds are just to filter out the extra noise the judges allow through for ‘show’ and in this particular horrible season if you don’t have Drama (Tatiana and Nick), you don’t have much of a show.

Join the Conversation: What’s Your Thoughts?

March 3, 2009August 17, 2009

Killing Cockroaches by Tony Morgan

If I could describe Killing Cockroaches by Tony Morgan in one sentence, it would look something like this. I would run a commercial and on one side I would have Tony Morgan and on the other I would have John Maxwell. Tony would start off by saying “Hello, I’m a Mac” John would follow “…and I’m a PC!“

Don’t get me wrong, I love John Maxwell, he is Mr. Leadership, and I am sure Tony has learned a thing or two from him, but I also love my Grandma, but she would have a tough time telling me how to relate to my generation. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and here are a few reasons why:

18-34: That’s Me! I am 28 years old and Killing Cockroaches is a leadership book that spoke to me, kept my attention, and has a huge focus on helping the church reach my generation.
Simple: Its clean and its in an easy to read format. I hate books with small fonts with the spacing all scrunched in together. A book with 234 pages worth of reading content ends up being more like 568 pages. Tony uses bullet points to keep your attention on the important principles or thoughts he wants to keep your attention on, oh yeah, its a leadership book and it has no graphs!
No Chapters: Huh? No Chapters. Yeah, that’s right. You could just keep reading all day if you are a chapter a day kind of reader.
Interesting: I am a slow reader. I like to take my time and I like to highlight things that speak to me or that catch my attention. My white page book is now yellow 🙂 Here is one huge reason why I would read another Tony Morgan book over another John Maxwell book. Tony kept my attention. I can’t tell you how many books I’ve laid down because it was boring. Its kind of like why people are leaving our churches…its boring!
Sandwiched: All through the book you get sandwiched in by great stories. You’ll be reading about Tony duct taping his rented Mustang hood down, and then out of nowhere, he hits you with some thoughts and principles that are relative to you as a leader, whether you are a Mac or a PC.
New Ways to Say Old Things: A wise man once said that there is nothing new under the sun. He said that before the iPhone was even created, pretty profound. Tony says a lot of new things, because they come from his personal experiences, but he also reinforces principles that will never change, but he says it in new and creative ways, so leaders can re-think how they are implementing or practicing those principles.
Leadership Empowers: Tony mentions in the book that you are not a leader if you feel you have to be say something to be heard. There are several articles in the book where Tony is silent and allows other big time leaders to share their thoughts, struggles, and wisdom on leading. I love that he gave up so much of his book to allow others an opportunity to invest into our lives.
My Favorite Quote: “If we are to achieve results never before accomplished, we must expect to employ methods never before attempted.” Sir Francis Bacon – This reminded me of what Craig Groeschel said in a recent conference: “To reach the people no one else is reaching, we have to do what no one else is doing.” I love these quotes because it reminds me that we can never quit learning, we can never stop adapting, because there are people we need to be reaching with the Gospel.
Open Ended: Alot of the book is left open ended to give you the opportunity to think about what is being discussed or to answer the questions being asked. I like being able to be involved in what I am reading.

I loved this book and highly recommend that you buy it and read it if you have not done so already. Tony Morgan blogs at http://www.tonymorganlive.com. You can subscribe to his blog and stay on top of his thoughts on leadership and ministry. You can also follow Tony on Twitter by Clicking Here.

To purchase Killing Cockroaches on Amazon Click Here. Its also available on the Kindle. For a further review of the book Click Here.