LEARNING MY LINES . . .

What Voice Are You Listening To? . . .

Let me be a bit transparent here. While I’m a bit hesitant to open myself up, I know that my transparency will most likely reveal something that’s not only a personal struggle for me, but a personal struggle for anyone…
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Youth Pastor Indicted. . . Good Intentions and Poor Judgment. . .

I’m sure the campfire would burn long into the night if it was surrounded by youth workers sharing stories of the risky, dangerous, and downright stupid things they had done over the years. . . all in the name of…
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Penn State, The NCAA, And Us. . . Some Thoughts. . .

Rewind one year. Put yourself back in that time and place. Now that you’re there, think about college sports, the NCAA, Penn State football, Joe Paterno, and the issue of child sexual abuse. Now, fast-forward 12 months to today. Who…
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Depth Needed: Responding to A Theater Shooting, Lady Gaga, and Everything Else Wrong With the World

“Satan Afflicting Job” by William Blake I don’t think there are easy answers, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t answers. I’ve been thinking about that all week since our pastor, Michael Rogers, preached a challenging sermon on the first chapter…
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Bicycles, Tacks, a Crying 14-Year-Old, and Sportsmanship. . .

I often wonder if our culture’s most revered golden calf is sport. Of course, you can build a case that money, sex and power are the most seductive idols we face, but even that trio combines to tarnish what sport…
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Tom, Katie, and Christian Celebrity. . .

We live in a day and age where our culture is the sea that plays host to a perfect storm of divergent systems that have come together to create a kind of idolatry that we might not even recognize. In…
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Profiling the Abuser. . . .

This headline caught my eye in yesterday’s Lancaster Sunday News: “Profile of an abuser.” The article was written by a local pastor, Steve Cornell, who is also a correspondent for the paper. Cornell says that in today’s world, parents who entrust…
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Teens, Social Media, and Relationships. . . .

Here’s a little infographic from a new bit of research from Common Sense Media. The report is entitled Social Media, Social Life: How Teens View Their Digital Lives. Give the infographic a look. Read the report. I’m wondering. . .…
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What the Sandusky Story Means to Youth Workers. . .

My good friend Marv Penner wrote this timely guest post. Sadly, this is the world we live in and we need to be ready to respond. The Jerry Sandsuky case has sparked all kinds of discussions and reactions. As youth…
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Jerry Sandusky, Sexual Abuse, and Nurturing More of the Same. . .

I’ve been trying to figure out what it is about this case that’s played so much with my thoughts and emotions. Perhaps it was the fact that Jerry Sandusky was known in our commonwealth and community as someone who really…
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