So, last summer I took a group of high school kids to the beach for the day. Or at least that was what we planned, but it ended up being just a bunch of hungry dudes who could go… so it ended up becoming a trip to Hodad’s for lunch. It’s an eclectic and super fun burger joint just blocks from the beach in downtown Ocean Beach.

That summer day I ordered one basket of fries, an order of onion rings, and a round of sodas and the guys each bought a burger. Nicholai- who was interning during the summer- thought…

Yeah… well his double double was double the size of his face and he gave up after 1/2 way done and cried uncle.

Ever since then, our small group of guys has been claiming they wanted to show Nicholai the burger could be owned. So, finally, we took them on last Wednesday night for them to experience it first hand- 6 of them for the first time.

The numbers: $119 bill for 9 dudes. 5 bought doubles. 4 got wiser with singles. I ordered 2 baskets of fries and one onion ring to share and a vanilla shake to mock them with.

There was sooooo much fat and grease and sugar and God knows what on this table that we didn’t even dare to pray “Dear God, please bless this meal.” We just asked for grace and forgiveness for what we just did to our body and agree’d we’d be seeing God a full 30 days earlier than He planned due to this diversion in artery health on our part… and then ate.

The result?

Yeah… 4 singles got polished off. And so did the baskets of fries and rings.

As for the doubles… Um.

David Bach (almost done below) and Brian Brangwynne (fisting it in the background) are have now been bestowed the title of “HODAD” for finishing the entire burger.

Michael (ordering) was bestowed the title of “SLOWDAD” since he did finish his, but ate it all the way home and finished the last bite as we exited the freeway to church.

And Jeff Sers (burger pride) and Michael Conley (slacker boy)- both of whom talked big game… have now been dubbed the “NODAD’S” since they got spanked by the burger and could not polish it off, leaving at least 1/3 of it still in the basket.

This day shall now be a historical moment in the lives of 7 high school students and 2 leaders who came, saw, and even a few conquered.

After bringing Becky and Billy home last February, we are still having firsts.  This holiday season has hosted a bunch more:   the first tick or treating, the first pumpkin carving, and the first costumes.  Next will be more through Thanksgiving and Christmas… all firsts for Becky and Billy and for us with them too.  

While at the NYWC in LA, I heard a talk by Shane Hipps on the dangers of technology and the myth of technological advancements and the intention behind invention and the reality of our world and yeah… it really got me thinking.

So much so, that months later, I’m still thinking about it. It was really an interesting talk.

His talk was based on this book which I have not read. But in a nutshell however, he doesn’t see technolgy as evil, but thinks we need to understand what we exchange when we embrace it.

All technology is a tool, but it also comes with a price tag. Consequently, some of the questions that this generation will have to ask are:

• “What is the value of being literally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually fully present?”
• Is there ever any need to travel to meet or do something face to face or can we actually live and do life together virtually? What is the cost of a facebook friendship maintenance plan?
• Can someone attend church in their living room over the internet? Is there any need to physically be together?

Ok… so I’m a big fan of narrative teaching. I have taught a few series in my day in a narrative format with characters and such and they are always very memorable… and a lot of work.

My favorite one is the story of Jesus and the passover that I did as a sermon back in Nor. Cal. after a trip to Israel. That trip radically changed the way I viewed Jesus last week of his life for me and inspired the story in me. I told an Easter message from the fictitious perspective of the son of the owner of the upper room. People still talk to me about that sermon. God was all over it and my pastor told me I should take it on the road.

I think I love narrative teaching because it really sticks and helps people to keep a message, so much better than a series of points. This is probably why I tell so many stories in my sermons too. I love a good story.

Well, to that end, I’m trying something in our guys groups that was introduced to me a while back through Youth Specialties and the YS One Day material I taught last spring. (You can find it on this website and in this book.) It’s a series of stories…. 21 in all, that walk you through the OT and NT to give students a sense of the common threads, themes, and proper order to the key stories in the Scriptures.

I took a risk and we kicked it off at our fall retreat with the guys in the desert and 4 discussions. I decided that if it was a success, I’d keep going. If it bombed, I’d scrap it. Well, It was a HUGE success!

Here’s how it worked:

1. We review the memory tool, main point, and any critical details of each of the previous stories.
2. I then set the scene and encourage them to get ready to really listen.
3. I read the story out loud, as dramatically as I know how.
4. I ask one question: “what did you hear?”… and the students re-tell the story back to me. I ask them to try and stay in order and to share one piece at a time, not going farther in the Bible Story beyond this story… even if they know more of the “rest of the story”.
5. We make observations along the way.
6. In small groups we ask 2 questions: (1) What does this teach us about God. (2) So what… what difference does this make for your everyday life?
7. Then we conclude by compiling our learnings into one bumper sticker statement we agree upon as a group. I also have been bringing a memory tool of some sort (the book suggests pictures, but we are using physical objects, and now we have added slide pics for our projectors too).

EPISODE FIVE: the knife (Genesis 22)

It was great to be in the desert with our guys and have them truly be able to wrestle with scripture as men, like an old school oral synagogue midrash of the jewish culture. The result is that most can still tell me the 4 stories we discussed in the desert, the symbol, and the main points from memory. Now if it just gets from the head to their heart to their hands and feet.

Here’s a pic of some of our younger men under a “chuppah” being prayed over by our older men after the Sunday Covenant message as these young men covenanted with God in the desert. Each of the posts is being held by a father of teens or older. The contrast of these generations and the decisions they are making is so critical in this fatherless generation. I love this pic of Greg praying with some younger guys in the background. I’m super blessed to play even a small roll in this kind of mentoring.