tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85410492812985521772011-09-16T13:15:17.302-05:00These are thoughts I have related to youth ministry, God, and the world. I would love to hear your thoughts as well.Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.comBlogger134125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-82222057985129236322010-12-15T11:27:00.003-06:002010-12-15T11:30:49.084-06:002010-12-15T11:30:49.084-06:00

Dear Friends...I just want to let all of my followers know that I am moving the blog. The new format offers some features that are not available here and will make it easier for people to navigate the list of posts and find relevant content. Here is the new blog address. All of the old posts have been imported. You will notice the addition of categories as opposed to only having post tags.

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-47750141616497262642010-12-13T11:33:00.003-06:002010-12-13T13:50:02.159-06:002010-12-13T13:50:02.159-06:00

Okay, I'll be up front about this. I don't always like to be the guy who turns everything he sees into a spiritual metaphor. Or the guy to get the one-up on my buddies by "Jesus Juking" them (turning a mundane statement into a surface level religious dig). Maybe the snap, crackle, pop of my Rice Krispies reminds me of the voice of God? Maybe passing out candy in a parade reminds me of how I

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-37584002345224993882010-12-09T10:16:00.003-06:002010-12-09T11:12:13.459-06:002010-12-09T11:12:13.459-06:00

Last week was our annual Christmas Parade of Lights in downtown Palestine. Each year, our church has a float featuring our church's children. It is a lot of work, but it's also a lot of fun. Several years ago, as a safety concern, the parade officials changed the rules on distribution of candy. Candy can no longer be "thrown" from parade floats. Since the parade is at night, they don't want

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-51096263988520946252010-12-08T15:30:00.006-06:002010-12-08T16:51:34.238-06:002010-12-08T16:51:34.238-06:00

It's Christmas Time. We are right smack in the middle of the dog days of retail consumerism at its finest. This is the time of year when "paper or plastic" isn't about the sacks (perhaps you call them bags) used after the purchase, but rather the method of payment during the purchase. In America, the average person spends $750 on Christmas. When you think about all of the children who have no

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-3807574355486667872010-12-06T10:54:00.005-06:002010-12-06T12:02:58.962-06:002010-12-06T12:02:58.962-06:00

Yesterday was Holy Communion at my church. Being the closest thing our church has to an associate pastor, I assist our pastor during the service by passing out bread. And while I can say that this is a time of prayer and reverence, my mind does wander off sometimes to things like the difficulty of getting car and tractor grease off your hands the day before the Communion service. But I

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-53543649692557786672010-11-29T09:30:00.005-06:002010-11-29T10:59:40.904-06:002010-11-29T10:59:40.904-06:00

A few weeks ago, I blogged about what I call Twitter snobs. These are people who aren't really famous, but are using Twitter to create a brand for themselves. If you follow one of these people you will get a mention or a DM that essentially says "Thank you for following. Here is how following me benefits you." I wasn't saying everyone with thousands of followers is that way, I was just saying

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-58598078483539579042010-11-24T09:58:00.004-06:002010-11-24T10:27:51.945-06:002010-11-24T10:27:51.945-06:00

I have about ten days left on my cellular contract. The display on my Motorola W510 (a dinosaur of a flip phone) is all but gone. If you leave the phone open it works okay, but if you close it, it will either hang up on the call when you open it, or the display will not work when you open it and you have to power off and back on. The funny thing is my wife's identical phone started doing the

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-22117943229822277812010-11-23T11:39:00.006-06:002010-11-23T11:51:25.409-06:002010-11-23T11:51:25.409-06:00

This is a post I wrote for a conglomerate blog called "The J-listers" where I write every Tuesday about a different mutually-agreed upon topic.This is Thanksgiving week, so we have decided to write about the things for which we are thankful. This year, I’ve been doing some extra study on the history of Thanksgiving that has given me a renewed appreciation for the hardships of America’s earliest

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-82624265376406996402010-11-22T14:17:00.004-06:002010-11-22T14:28:33.454-06:002010-11-22T14:28:33.454-06:00

First of all, I want to thank all of you who are followers of this blog and those of you who occasionally hop in off of Twitter. But this post will be one of a different sort. About three weeks ago, I was asked to be a part of a new blog project. The basic premise of the new project is six total strangers, all followers of Christ, and all who follow each other on Twitter, who each take a crack

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-27775446504056135252010-11-16T13:09:00.000-06:002010-11-16T13:09:00.520-06:002010-11-16T13:09:00.520-06:00

I got the idea for this post from Tim Schmoyer's "63 Youth Ministry Issues I Hope You Cover". This weekend, we are doing an event that is probably the most unique event that I've done since I've been in youth ministry over ten years.We have an annual campout retreat that we do every fall that has evolved into a family event. We encourage our youth to bring their parents. This is a great

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-1519241102459941072010-11-15T17:47:00.012-06:002010-11-16T11:40:34.761-06:002010-11-16T11:40:34.761-06:00

We just finished up our annual fall campout/retreat. This has become an annual event for us. While very little went quite as planned, it was still an amazing weekend. I started to evaluate what made this weekend a success and came up with ten things we didn't do to make this trip successful. So, here are ten things youth workers do to ruin a weekend retreat.1. Micro-plan every second. Part

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-71287065312007138322010-11-10T16:13:00.005-06:002010-11-10T16:50:55.180-06:002010-11-10T16:50:55.180-06:00

The last few weeks I've been enjoying some conversations with fellow sojourners on this faith path of following Christ through everybody's favorite 140-character social platform, Twitter. I've really enjoyed these discussions because in many cases I have blatantly disagreed with someone else, or they have had opinions staunchly different from my own, but yet we continue to banter in a civil way

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-64239266153198624022010-11-09T12:26:00.004-06:002010-11-09T12:53:43.196-06:002010-11-09T12:53:43.196-06:00

The other day I was listening to a technology talk show on the radio...actually, I stumbled on it, but anyway, it was there. The topic of discussion was tech devices and how it is the nature of the technology industry for a company to release a product and to be working on that device's successor during or even prior to the release of the current device. This is where we get the concept that

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-30051754521282433002010-11-09T11:24:00.004-06:002010-11-09T11:36:44.473-06:002010-11-09T11:36:44.473-06:00

There are some of you who follow this blog and others who just follow my Twitter account. This blog at times can be somewhat random. I write when the inspiration hits me. It may be something I thought about in my free time, or it may be something someone said or did that challenged my way of thinking and through this blog I share that process with readers. While I try to post at least once a

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-29858115206497671252010-11-02T10:15:00.004-05:002010-11-02T10:45:04.879-05:002010-11-02T10:45:04.879-05:00

The strangest emotional roller coaster ride in Texas this fall has been the success of the Texas Rangers. This is a team that had only won one playoff game in it's 50+ year franchise history. But this year, despite a number of injuries, some mediocre teams in their division, and being at least 20 games back in the race for the best record in the American League, they easily made the playoffs,

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-78941126780352123582010-10-28T13:52:00.004-05:002010-10-28T14:54:38.457-05:002010-10-28T14:54:38.457-05:00

I don't remember how long ago it was that I opened up a Twitter account. As with most technological crazes, I was slow to come around. As a regular user of Facebook, I couldn't figure out how this thing called Twitter with all its "Tweeps" tweeting about their life in less than 140 characters was going to benefit me.But after I was introduced to some people who preferred Twitter over Facebook,

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-81943173889019345552010-10-26T14:17:00.005-05:002010-10-26T15:50:42.115-05:002010-10-26T15:50:42.115-05:00

We live in a messed up world. With all the poverty, hunger, war, unemployment, and general darkness on this crazy planet, I'll be the first to admit there are way more important things than how far someone can hit a baseball or how fast they can run a football. And as a Christian culture we've become very focused on the social and cultural issues (which is good). However, some of us have

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-11576965786564974602010-10-26T09:33:00.003-05:002010-10-26T10:42:49.557-05:002010-10-26T10:42:49.557-05:00

Last weekend, I went hiking with a couple of great friends in Big Bend National Park. During the time away from TV, internet, office work, family life, and even cell phones, conversations tend to open up. Tommy and I have been friends for over 16 years and our conversations rarely turn to politics, but on the 8-hour car ride home, we went there.During the course of conversation, though, we

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-91787523830477386802010-10-25T12:08:00.006-05:002010-10-25T14:31:54.342-05:002010-10-25T14:31:54.342-05:00

Last weekend, I spent three days and two nights backpacking in the mountain trails of Big Bend National Park. This was my first backpacking experience. The remote area we were camping had no water, and we were several miles from the Chisos Basin water supply. That meant we had to pack in all of our own water, as well as food and supplies. As I started up the path with my friends Tommy and

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-24298725881754928682010-10-13T09:55:00.005-05:002010-10-13T11:00:29.966-05:002010-10-13T11:00:29.966-05:00

Every follower of Christ knows (or should know) that this journey we are on is not one of accidental, whimsical, or random actions as we iron out this relationship with our creator, but rather it is intentional. I suppose perhaps one could coast through life without giving much thought to the disciplines of the faith, but it might raise some questions with other Christ followers who were more

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-48901237092477195672010-10-11T10:59:00.004-05:002010-10-11T16:01:56.749-05:002010-10-11T16:01:56.749-05:00

Youth culture is always changing. Every week or so, there is a new movement, social connection, video game, movie, behavioral trend, or teen cultural issue that makes youth workers like me scratch our heads. Whether it's emos who cut themselves, another teen's obsession with all things vampire from the Twilight movies, or being engrossed in the latest violent video games, there are constantly

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-39580874512563844422010-10-06T14:23:00.006-05:002010-10-06T14:48:38.036-05:002010-10-06T14:48:38.036-05:00

One of the first books I read early on in my ministry career was Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Church." That book shaped not only my approach to ministry, but also that of thousands of pastors and church leaders. So I can tell, now, you are probably thinking a couple of things. 1. Purpose-Driven Ministry is so 20th century, after all, it was first published 15 years ago.2. Why would anyone be

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-51980843245594617022010-10-04T12:48:00.004-05:002010-10-04T14:05:07.334-05:002010-10-04T14:05:07.334-05:00

A couple of months ago, my wife surprised me by buying me a new coffee pot. We had one, but I hardly ever used it opting to just wait until I got to work and get a cup there. The old pot didn't really get the coffee warm enough, so it was just easier to wait until I got to work.But after she got me the new pot, I realized something. Now, I drink more coffee. This new pot warms the coffee

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-18130519749465988982010-09-30T09:27:00.008-05:002010-09-30T10:47:24.440-05:002010-09-30T10:47:24.440-05:00

The above commercial is from the ad campaign for Audi's new clean diesel car line. The premise is that the "Green Police" are out scouring the land for environmental infractions. Of course, the Green Police have nothing on the driver of Audi's cleaner running diesel. While the commercial is a humorous look at what environmental consciousness has become, people at Audi want us to believe that

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8541049281298552177.post-26308610780887888532010-09-29T15:50:00.003-05:002010-09-29T16:26:47.699-05:002010-09-29T16:26:47.699-05:00

Yes, the title is true. I got in my truck, drove to the bank, and cashed a check made out to me for the amount of $.18. You're probably wondering why I even got the check in the first place. Last month, I made my last payment on my truck (9 months early, but who's counting). When I called for the payoff, a computerized voice told me how much to pay as long as I paid before a certain date. A

Jason Huffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07818235066447937937noreply@blogger.com0