Chris’ Favorite Web Sites

Happy Surfing

Just Click on the Blue Type to Surf Over to the Recommended Web-Site

Bible Study Tools:  I use this site mainly for the online Bible that features a number of good translations including the NRSV.  The site also includes a number of other Bible study tools such as commentaries and dictionaries. 

Current Events Bible Study: The Faith Lens Bible Study is a service of the Evalgelical Lutheran Church web site. It offers a weekly study on a current event which is then tied to that week's common lectionary reading. So if your congregation uses the Common Lectionary on Sunday morning for the worship hour, using this material for Sunday School is a great way to get your youth ready for worship. New material is usually posted by Wednesday morning for the following Sunday giving you a couple of days to prepare your lesson. Best yet, the service is free, so check it out.

 Hollywood Jesus: This is a great site for getting a spiritual handle on much of pop-culture. It contains lots of movie reviews that will help you to process current movies with your youth. I highly recommend movie outings with your youth, but be sure that you have already seen the movie so that you know if there is any questionable content in it. Don't just go on word of mouth recommendations! Go see it yourself first. This will also make you more prepared for discussions after the movie. This is also where this web-site comes in handy, it will make you seem very observant.

Song Lyrics and Chords:  I have found the following  sites to contain the lyrics and chords to most of the songs that we use at camp.  If you are planning to use these sites extensively in your music ministry I would highly recommend that you get a CCLI license.  This license will give you permission to print lyrics on song sheets, overhead masters, or to put them into a computer data base for use in your meetings.  You may contact me for information about getting a CCLI license or check out the link provided below.   

• CCLI is the source for copyright licensing information. For a rather small yearly fee (which is based on your congregation’s average worship attendance), you can have permission to print lyrics on song-sheets, in your bulletin, on overheads, or to store the lyrics on your computer for projection purposes. In addition to the basic CCLI license you can and include the Song Select service with your membership, you’ll have access to the lyrics of just about any song imaginable that is being used today. This is well worth the price that you pay for it, and helps to see that the authors and composers of your favorite tunes get compensated for their work. If you sign up for the SongSelect service you can also have access to print 200 lead sheet a year. Lead sheets give you the chords and the melody line of the song. The latest SongSselect version also allows you to transpose keys as well allowing you to move things into a key that is more playable for us beginner guitar players. The cost of the basic CCLI license changes depending on your average worship attendance (for example if you average up to 99 in worship the cost would be $99.00). The additional SongSelect service runs about $130.00 per year but is more than worth it if you plan on using many of these songs in your worship services and youth group meetings.
• http://www.christianmusicweb.com/song_archives.html
• http://pwarchive.com/  This used to be the best of all the music sites.  It’s success proved to be its downfall however.  When I last checked it, many of the lyrics had gotten pulled off the site due to the fact that Christian music publishers, whose music appeared on the site, had threatened to sue for copyright infringement.

 

Family Based Youth Ministry: This is the home for Mark Devries, author of the book: “Family Based Youth Ministry.  It is a must read book!  So check out the web site first and then order the book.  What Mark DeVries is advocating is doing youth ministry with long-range lenses.  This means doing youth ministry that will have an influence on youth not only today, but for a lifetime.  Most of our programs have short-term effects, but establishing lasting relationships within the church family will give youth a faith that will last them for the rest of their lives.  He also advocates a youth ministry program that provides as much attention to the family as it does to the youth themselves. 

Youth Group Ideas.  This site offers a wide variety of ideas for your weekly youth group meetings, but also for fund raising, and other activities. 

Moravian Theologcial Seminary: One of the most profound things that we youth leaders can do is to point our young people in the direction of Christian vocations. Pointing our youth towards a theological education is the beginning of that process, here is the low down on Moravian Theological Seminary. Not a bad place to go, I did!

www.pastor2youth.com:  This is another site that is full of program ideas and resources.   You’ll find it particularly helpful in finding games to play, and illustrations to spice up a Bible Study. 

 Youth Specialties.  Youth Specialties is probably the largest publishing house of youth ministry resources in the world.  You name it, they’ve got it.  Make sure you have your credit card out, because you’ll want to start buying as soon as you hit the site.  They’ve got everything from Bible Study guides to academic books on the practice of youth ministry.    There is also information here about the National Youth Worker convention and one-day Core Training events. 

 Group Magazine :  This is the web site that goes with the great magazine.   They ultimately want you to buy a subscription to the magazine (which is not a bad idea), but the web site usually does have a few articles from the latest issue for you to read as well has a handful of suggestions for running your ministry.  This magazine focuses more on the practical aspects of youth ministry.

 Youthworker Journal :  This journal looks at the big picture of youth ministry.  Where as Group Magazine focuses more on the practical, Youth Worker takes a more theological and theoretical approach.  Again, the web site’s purpose is to get you to buy a subscription to the journal, but it usually does contain a number of freebie articles for you to read.

Mike Yaconelli was the President and founder of Youth Specialties and considered by many as the guru of youth ministry. At the same time he was not your conventional youth worker. This web site is actually part of the Youth Worker Journal page, but I wanted to list it separately because his articles always make you think. You may not always agree with what he has to say, but he will most certainly make you think about what it is you are doing. If you are a youth leader or a pastor you cares about the youth ministry program in your congregation, the articles in this site are required reading. Do this before you spend a dime on resources or before you go to planning your activities for the year. Mike's life was tragically cut short when he was involved in an auto accident a few years ago, but thankfully his witness lives on through this web site.

 Hope Conference and Renewal Center :  All of the kids in your youth group should be going to camp this summer.   Here is where you can get all of the information.  You should also consider doing a retreat for your group.  The camp is available for weekends throughout the year, and as soon as the new cabins are finished it will be even better suited for this type of use. 

  Ancient Spiritual Practices are making a huge come back.  It is refreshing to know that sometimes the next best thing is something that folks in the church have been doing for thousands of years like PRAYING!  This web site gives you a brief introduction to the ancient art of centering prayer prayer. It is a practice that I have found useful not only in my own devotional life but also in using  with youth. 

 Labyrinth :  This site gives you lots of information about the latest innovations to this ancient spiritual practice.  It has now gone high-tech.  In this version a sound track has been produced that guides the participant through the exercise, which is full of stations for folks to stop at and ponder.   I prefer the old silent way of doing this, but I think this one would help especially the younger adolescents who might have a hard time with that much contemplation.  This site actually lets you do the labyrinth on line.    It’s not as meaningful as actually walking it, but it gives you an idea of what an interactive Labyrinth is like.  Actually, the folks at Group now have a kit available that will help you to put one of these together in your congregation.  The sound track used on the web site is the same one that comes with the Group Prayer Path Kit.

 Search Institute :  This is a research outfit that has done extensive investigation into adolescent development.     What they have discovered has profound meaning for us as youth workers and for the church.  They have put together a list of 40 Assets that they feel are needed by our young people to help them be successful in navigating their way through the adolescent years successfully.   The web site gives you all of this information for free, but then also offers resources for how these can best be integrated into your congregation’s ministry.  This is well worth the effort of checking out.