Weekly Resources, Ideas and Articles from The Source for Youth Ministry
Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Main Point: Don't let Jesus go unnoticed this Christmas.

It was Friday morning, January 12th, in the middle of the morning rush at the DC Metro. As over a 1,000 people passed by, a young white man in jeans and baseball cap pulled a violin out of its case, threw a few dollars down as seed money, and begin to play.

A rich sound filled the Metro plaza, an elegant and pure melody that these walls had never heard before. An occasional passerby dropped a few coins in the case, but for the most part, the musician was ignored.

1097 people passed by that morning. The violin case managed to collect a mere $32 and change in donations.

Who was this unrecognized brilliant young musician?

"No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside The Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made." (Pearls Before Breakfast, Washington Post, April 8, 2007)

The musician's name was Josh Bell. Three days before this experiment that the Washington Post arranged at the Metro, Bell filled Boston's Symphony Hall, where average seats went for $100. Two weeks later there would be standing room only at the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda. But on this particular frigid January morning only a handful of people paused for even a moment to take in the beautiful sound that under normal circumstances filled Halls and packed auditoriums.

The violin that Bell cradled was a 3.5 million dollar instrument hand crafted in 1713 by Antonio Stradivari. It is said that no violin produces a sound as wonderful as Strads from the 1710s.

Sixty three people passed by before anyone even seemed to notice the musician at all. A middle aged man slowed his pace for a moment and glanced to the left. He kept walking, but it was something. Not a minute later a women tossed in a dollar without even stopping. It was six minutes before someone even stopped to listen.

Only seven people stopped at all to listen to the master musician, twenty seven people gave, and over 1,000 never stopped, never even turned to look.

The master musician had gone unrecognized and overwhelmingly ignored. (Click here for the original Washington Post Article and a short video clip of Bell in the Metro)

TRANSITION STATEMENT:
2,000 years ago the very creator of the universe showed up, and very few people even noticed.

You'd think that people would recognize our master creator by what they saw and heard. But overwhelmingly, people were too busy and too blinded to notice.

Of course, God didn't choose to enter the world as a conquering king or triumphant hero. His arrival was humble and simple. He came as a baby, born in a dirty stable because there was no room at any of the inns.

The master creator showed up on earth to save us from the walls we had built between ourselves and God. His arrival was hardly noticed, but for centuries to come, people would celebrate this single, momentous, yet ignored occurrence- one of the most significant events in human history. This event is what we call Christmas. 2,000 years ago most people missed it.

Are you missing Christmas this year?

Divide into Small Groups...


Jonathan McKee, president of The Source for Youth Ministry, is the author of numerous youth ministry books including the brand new 10-Minute Talks, and the award winning books Do They Run When They See You Coming? and Getting Students to Show Up. He speaks and trains at camps, conferences, and events across North America, and provides free resources for youth workers internationally on his website, TheSource4YM.com.

What's more marketable than one bisexual hottie being groped by both genders on a reality dating show?

You guessed it: two bisexual hotties.

And that's what A Double Shot at Love will offer viewers when it premiers Dec. 9th at 10:00pm on your kids' favorite channel, MTV.

Meet the "Ikki Twins"
MTV's latest show in their hit series A Shot at Love (which formerly starred Tila Tequila) will introduce young viewers to Vikki and Rikki, a set of identical blonde twins... who just happen to be bisexual.

Before MTV got hold of them, the girls worked as Hooters' waitresses, and were also models for Playboy. (Their web site's bio page lists the other places where they can be seen wearing very little or nothing at all.)

These two girls will give "12 sexy lesbians and 12 hot straight guys" a shot at love with them on the show. Not only do the twins hope to find love, but also "double" the pleasure for their viewers with a show that promises to be "twice as fun and twice as sexy."

Vikki and Rikki, the self-professed "hottest twins in the world" go by their nickname "the Ikki twins." According to Fast & Sexy Magazine (I'm sure this magazine resides on your coffee table), their interests include "boys, dancing, drawing, cheerleading, cars, and party'n." If your grandma stumbles across their X-Rated photos floating around the Internet, she would agree that the girls have definitely earned their "icky" nickname...

Episode #19: A Conversation with Greg Stier: Why the Gospel Shouldn't be Eliminated by Social Justice (11/30/2008)

Listen to it now for free on iTunes! (CLICK HERE) Or, if you don't have iTunes already... jump on Apple's web page for a free download, then click on our podcast page.


Episode Highlights:

• Discover the real reason Greg doesn't like to work out.
• Learn some of the fundamental differences between social justice and biblical evangelism.
• Hear Andy elaborate on the three standards for hiring a great youth pastor...well, two at least.
• Get some help on planning out your youth ministry talks for a year.
• See why Jonathan thinks youth workers looking for "order and discipline" can take a lesson from The Terminator.

Get the book that Fuller Seminary's Chap Clark calls "The best single volume on pragmatic programming I have ever seen. This is a must on every youthworker's shelf!"

Enjoy not only the best of Jonathan's games, video clip ideas, and weekly curriculum ... but also the basics in programming, small groups, building an effective team of volunteers, and developing a student leadership program.

Recommended by Jim Burns, Chap Clark, Kurt Johnston, Fred Lynch, Laurie Polich, Wayne Rice, and more!

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