Month: October 2007

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the marko effect


i promise that i will soon begin to blog about something other than marko but i thought some of you would find the power of marko interesting. above is the google analytics graph for the traffic to my blog for the week before yesterday. as you can see i had my normal 40 people coming to view the blog (approximately 35 of which are my mom). things changed dramatically once marko posted the link to the top ten list. the traffic jumped up to 364.

to give you a comparison i’ll compare the traffic to my blog when it was put on the ys update (back in september). here’s the graph for that.

as you can see it wasn’t as big of a jump. marko is basically three times more influential than the ys update. he is a online youth ministry power and a force to be reckoned with.

all hail the power of marko’s name.

SIDE NOTE – after changing my design several times i finally built the desk for my study (now affectionately dubbed the “man cave” by pam). it’s basically a collapsible table so that the “man cave” can easily be turned into the “guest room” when the need arises. that’s right my space has to remain portable so that i can remove my stuff when we have company. oh yes, i am master of this domain.

the desk cost me a grand total of $16.24 after tax. now i’m getting an old computer from my dad (needs a power supple – $30) that i can run ubuntu on, and probably a widescreen monitor for movies.

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some things i miss about youth ministry

i am a reluctant church planter. i didn’t want to leave youth ministry – i think it’s the greatest thing going. in fact, GOD would have had a much harder time convincing me to be involved in a church plant if it had not been for finding a few models of church government that would allow me to be more directly involved within the youth ministry of the church than the traditional “senior pastor” model. my goal is once the church is started to be able to be as involved within the youth ministry as i was at the previous churches that i was a part of when i was their youth minister. i just think that youth ministry is the real deal and therefore the thought of giving it up is very difficult for me.

with the above said i do realize that i will not actively be involved within a youth ministry again for several years. the reason for this is pretty simple – we most likely won’t have any adolescents other than my own for several years. i’ll do youth ministry things with adam and noah, and love it, but that’s more about parenting than anything else.

so here are a few things that i will miss about youth ministry for the next several years:

  • road trips – it doesn’t matter what the trip was for (a mission trip or a fun trip) getting to the destination and back was almost always one of the best parts of any event. incredibly significant things usually happen within a van (and vans are better than charter buses for this).
  • middle school junk food – the middle school guys always had the best snacks and they were usually willing to share. everyone else may run from the middle school guys room but i love it because i know someone is always going to bring something i really like.
  • random questions – there is no other situation within the world where the questions can range from the death of a loved one or friend to a scene in last week’s “simpson’s” episode (actually i’m showing my preference there because it would probably be a scene from last week’s “family guy” episode)
  • random connections – i love the fact that it’s okay within youth ministry to combine the somberness of a prayer labyrinth with a water balloon launcher. nobody sees these as incompatible.

of course, there is much more that i will miss but that’s all i feel like writing about right now.

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neighbors?

uninhabited
i found this yesterday in one of our trees. according to what i have read i need to wait till the first or second hard freeze before removing it. adam wants to take it in to his biology class, which is fine after a freeze kills everything. i would hate to give them a semi-live nest for their classroom. that would make for an interesting story but not one that i really want to personally experience.

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pam – the uber woman

my wife finished and turned in her dissertation yesterday. in two weeks she will defend it and then she will be through. defending the dissertation is no easy thing, but when your main prof says “you have knowing to worry about because you’ve done a great study,” then you can breathe a little. i am amazed and incredibly proud of pam. i definitely married up.

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free is good – maybe

i’m a vetran garbage digger. when i drive down the street and see a pile of someone else’s junk on the side of the road i am more than willing to stop and pick up something that i like. i’ve found several great things doing this. after all, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure. last night i trash dove for the first time in wisconsin.

on the side of the road were two sets of waxless cross country skis. they are espoir titans (215 & 213 centimeters) and i know nothing about them (and i can’t seem to find anything on the net). all i know at this point is that they are at least better than what i had before – which was nothing. i’ll take them the hostel shoppe tomorrow. they will probably laugh at me but i’m okay with that because no matter how trashie the skis may be they are still free.

as a southern boy (born and rised in alabama) i have to add that finding skis in someone’s garbage was just odd and put a smile on my face. it’s probably normal for people native wisconsinites but it definitely wasn’t for me.

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top ten reasons why marko should link to one of my posts – part 2

this is the completion of the top ten list started here. these are the top five reasons why marko should link to one of my posts like he did with j.t.’s (blessed be his name) post.

    5. it will solve the bcs/college football playoffs debate. for years college football fans have been arguing about whether the bcs was worth squat or not. many thought they were longing for a play off system, while others have thought a play off system would ruin what is best about ncaa football. if marko merely posts a link to one of my posts the world will suddenly be enlightened with the answer of what is best for college football and this argument will be settled. college football harmony is within your hands marko.

    4. my kids will respect me and hope to grow up to be like me. marko, you’re a dad. you know how important it is to live your life in a manner that your kids can respect you. yesterday my youngest said to me, “dad, i would be so proud of you if someone like marko would link to one of your posts” and then my oldest son added, “and if nobody links to your blog then i’m going to view you as a failure and choose mike tyson as the role model for life.” marko, you can’t let this happen. i can’t lose my children down that path and the world definitely doesn’t need another mike tyson.

    3. your kids will respect you and hope to grow up to be like you. lifting up the weak is a sign of a follower of GOD and if you link to one of my blog posts you will be lifting up a weak blogger (a blogger too weak to write like j.t. – blessed be his name). you’re kids will see this action (in fact, i will gladly send you a certificate documenting the event of you linking to one of my blog posts) and praise your name as the wonderful human being that you are. realistically it would not surprise me at all if you daughter and son suddenly started introducing you to their friends as “my great and caring dad who is exactly like i want to be.” this, of course, would make you the envy of all the other parents in the neighborhood and then you could start your new “side” career as a lecturer within the field of parenting. you’re first book could be titled, “link to robert’s blog and win your child’s respect forever.” i’m sure it would be a bestseller. see, this works out as not only a wonderful parenting strategy for you but also your first step into your new profession. let’s face it, nobody in their right mind would actually desire to work with ys (though if you need a representative in central wisconsin i would be open to a conversation). by linking to one of my posts you win the admiration of your kids and begin your journey of creating the next focus on the family. you will then be able to not only be a voice of power within the religious right but you will also be able to set yourself up as a political pundit and direct people in all areas of their lives. marko, this is the way that CHRISTianity is supposed to work. right?

    2. it could save your life from a crazed, stalking fan. now, surely i don’t know if you have any crazed stalking fans but if you’ve seen “misery” then you surely know what type of danger these people represent. it couldn’t hurt for one of them to see you post a link to one of my posts and thereby realize that you are “a man of the people” rather than an ivory tower person. marko, these people are dangerous and you should do everything you can to keep them from being angry with you. i’m only looking out for what’s best for you. btw, i’m not the biggest fan of the blue shirt you wore yesterday. you look much better in the green one you wore two weeks ago when you were drinking coffee … at least that’s what i heard … and i know merely through hearsay and not personal knowledge … but you should wear the green one more often.

    and the number 1 reason why marko should post a link to one of my blog posts is …

    because i’m asking nicely. really marko, pretty please with sugar on top and all that other stuff. i’m even typing this with a smile on my face. honest, you can ask the person beside me at emy j’s (a local coffee/ice cream shop). i’m grinning like an idiot.

so those are my reasons why you, marko, should post a link to my blog or a post of mine. yes it would be easier if i could write something as great as j.t. (blessed be his name) but we both know that’s not going to happen. after all, j.t. (blessed be his name) is a youth ministry god (and a really decent guy too).

bonus reason – i could convince the people that are planting a church with me to name the church after you. instead of “tapestry” (technically it’s “stevens point tapestry church” which will be great 10 years form now when a one word name for a church sounds stupid) i think i could convince them to call the church “marko” (technically “stevens point marko church” which will be great 10 years from now when a one word name for a church sounds stupid). i think it would be a huge draw. after all people really just come to a church for a cool name, music, and marketing. this works for both of us. heck if you preferred we could even use “oestreicher.” central wisconsin is polish/german/scandinavian territory so most of the people around here would probably be able to pronounce your last name with ease. your name would be immortalized without even having to make a major monetary contribution to a university.

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busy

i’m pretty busy right now so i can’t post about anything (specifically the 5 remaining reasons why marko should post a link to my blog) but i’ll try to do this tonight or tomorrow. otherwise life has been busy because:

  • pam finishes the final draft of her dissertation today – pam is not to be bothered and therefore i’m running interference with the boys.
  • yesterday the mall of america took forever – same as every other mall in america (i.e. boring) only bigger (and thus even more boring). still it was a fun day with the family.
  • i’m feeling in for another church planter in appleton, wisconsin (an hour away from home) and so i’m busy with prepping for that.
  • went to a salvation army church today – it’s not hard to guess who the visitor is when there are 10 people in the room.

i’ll write more later. now i have to continue figuring out what to do with a group of 15 people that i have never had any contact with. it’s hard to be “relational” when there’s no relationship there.

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the family that reads together

actually this title is misleading because it’s not so much about my family reading together as much as it is about my wife and kids assigning me books they like. i’m not sure how it got started but somehow pam, adam, and noah gained the opportunity to tell me a book to read and then discuss it later. it’s been great. all three of them gave me wonderful works of fiction to read that i probably would not have read with out them. i love my family.

here are the three books they assigned me:

  • “anne of green gables” – pam picked this one – it’s a chick book that i never would have read on my own but it was great. it had some incredible insight into church within it. i love that pam knows what i will like even when i don’t.
  • “fahrenheit 451” – adam picked this one – i can not believe that i have never read anything by bradbury before. the book was fantastic and i’ll have to pick up some more bradbury. it led to some great conversation with adam and i in turn was able to introduce adam to “animal farm” (which i love).
  • “things not seen” – noah picked this one – i was familiar with andrew clements because of “frindle.” he writes wonderful preteen books and this one was a pleasure to read and discuss with noah.

since i always try to keep a work of fiction and a work of non-fiction flowing through my head at the same time i now have to find some new fiction recommendations. i would probably ask my mom to recommend something (she reads more often than she breathes) but she would probably tell me about some cookbook that i absolutely have to read.

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chapel of love?

pam, the boys and i are going to the mall of america tomorrow to meet a few of pam’s e-buddies from around the area. pam is really looking forward to putting faces with the names and personalities of the women she has been talking with over the past few years. the thing is that none of us are very excited about going to the mall itself. i’m sure we’ll have fun, because i have great kids and a wonderful wife, but malls are just not very high on the priority list for us and this one being the biggest mall in north america actually lowers our desire to go there instead of increasing it.

while pam was looking up some information on the mall of america she discovered that it has a wedding chapel within it’s boundaries. it’s called the “chapel of love.” the thought of a wedding taking place within a mall is one of the saddest commentaries ever on the values of western culture. it’s so sad that there is no need for me to talk about it.