You want to know what I have to say about someone that tells me 'not to take personally' comments, criticisms, gripes, moans, or complaints about the ministry I work for? ​

Rubbish. ​

Because for me (and you may be different), there is no way for me not to take things personally.​

When a kid says, "I don't like the color of the summer camp shirt," I take it personally. ​

When another kid complains that there wasn't anything to drink to go along with the doughnuts I brought to class that morning, I take it personally.

When anyone makes a snide or unthoughtful comment about an event that I spent months planning every detail, I take it personally. 

You see, some people in ministry (pulpit, family, youth, or otherwise) can step back and take themselves out of that situation, turn off a switch when they go home from work and forget about all the things that were said that day. ​

Not me. ​

And I'm betting that's most ministers of all types out there. ​

Comments, arguments, moans, complaints are not like water off a duck to me. With some people, yes, because some people will do nothing but complain. I'm talking about others. Other people, parents, and the very teens in the youth group. To me every complaint is like a stab with a needle. It hurts for a while, it doesn't bleed much, but it leaves a mark. ​

No one can run the perfect, flawless ministry. No one can go without mistakes. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that it's okay of you take the ministry you work for a little personally. It's okay to take work home with you sometimes. It's okay to ​be emotionally involved - frankly, I don't see how all ministers don't get emotionally involved. 

In ministry, everything is personal. Jesus even took things personally and showed emotion because of it. We can't hold everything in. We'll eventually explode. ​

If you're one of those ministers who is able to shrug things off, then I commend you. And to a certain extent, everyone has to learn to do that. But as my wife told me, I think that getting involved and being passionate about the work we do makes us better ministers, even if we can't detach ourselves sometimes. ​

People are being very critical of Google right now, and some of their decisions that they see going against the 'Open Web' policy. Laurent Eschenauer:​

We are developers, and hacking the future is what we do best. So, time to wake up and start building alternatives.

Laurent is writing to Google's dropping support for XMPP in Hangouts and eventually RSS in Chrome and SMTP ​in Gmail. 

 ​He's right though - there are plenty of developers out there with plenty of great ideas, better ideas than Google. We need to remember that Google talks a good talk but in the end, they are a company out to make money. And we are not Google's customers, we are the product. 

The Hashtag Video Series is a free, brotherhood-sponsored and brotherhood-funded video series for teens in the Churches of Christ. First started in 2012 by Scott Bond at Spring Meadows Church of Christ, the Hashtag Video Series was a set of 12 videos magnifying the Gospel of Christ to teenagers. Over 300 churches signed up to particpate in over 70 countries on 6 continents - over 12,000 teens experienced video messages from the Gospel through Hashtag last year. 

2013 is proving more ambitious as high-profile speakers like Lonnie Jones and David Skidmore provided messages for the series with filming this past week. The quality has been kicked up a notch and you can expect the same great content from the first series. This year the theme for our 13 videos and skits is For His Glory. We hope to spotlight the issues in teenagers’ lives with subjects such as Fighting, Sports, and Relationships - all For His Glory. Lonnie Jones and his SWAT Skit Team from Huntsville, Alabama will add a new dimension to our series and provide extra content to illustrate points as well. By offering videos for free, we believe we can impact a large number of people for Christ.

All this, however, is not free to produce. Daniel Howell, minister for a congregation in Metropolis, Illinois, has provided excellent HD video capture and editing. Speakers are paid for their time and travel. Materials will be produced and promoted for the new series. 

So we need your help. You can help us out in two ways - purchase a subscription to Hashtag Media content at hashtagmedia.us, filled with all sorts of brotherhood content for teens that is current, relevant, and scriptural. Subscriptions get you all the resources that are released every month, and these resources are filled with illustrations, scripture, stories, and loads of content to keep your youth classes going. Subscriptions are $199 a year. 

The second way you can help is to commit to making a yearly donation to Hashtag for $1000. This isn’t cheap by any means, but you will be helping to fund the next generation of high-quality content for our young people. 

We hope that Hashtag has helped your ministries and churches grow, and we hope that we can grow with your help to magnify the Gospel in this world. 

Click here to go to the donation page for Hashtag. ​

I love the show Parks & Recreation. It's not the most Christian show, and it won't teach me any values for my life, but it's silly and it makes me laugh. ​

I love the character of Ron Swanson. Ron is a manly, unforgiving, uncompromising individual who will not be derailed from how he wants to live his life. And he's hilarious. ​

In a recent episode, his character was ​being forced to talk about motivation, and how to become motivated in the workplace. Ron then said: 

There's only three ways to motivate people: money, fear and hunger. ​

The quip was meant to be funny, but is it true?

It's true in the world. People will do almost anything for money. We've seen people kill other people for money. We've seen people intimidate with fear to get what they want. We've seen hunger ravage entire nations and motivate people to do what they have to do to live. ​

What about in the Church? I think in the 1950's, fear was a great motivator for people coming to Christ. Fire and brimstone sermons from high pulpits made lots of people think about the Gospel. ​But fear doesn't work anymore, in my opinion. Fear as a motivator in the church just doesn't bode well with people and families any more. 

So what does? Some people in the Church say we're losing people right and left. Some people are saying that our kids go off to college and never come back. Others say that those same kids go off to college but go back to church later in their 20's and 30's. ​

So what are we using as a motivator today in the Church? ​

​Love should be our prime motivator, but often times isn't. Most times it's the need for connectivity and community that brings people to the Church. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that just like the Gospel in the first century, we should always be pressing forward, and in some places, it feels to me like we're still motivating with fear instead of love. ​

1 John 4.20-21:​

If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. ​

Words of wisdom from Rick Warren today: ​