A Few Good Reads

This time, with links to the articles. (My bad!)

There’s a lot of muck floating around on the internet. It can be hard to know what not to read, and what not to spend time on. For my inaugural post here on substack, I thought I might just ease into the shallow end of the pool on a cool day. No need for cannonballs. With that said, here’s a few good reads:

1. 7 Reasons It’s Hard to Find a Youth Minister by Griffin Gulledge

Here’s one reason:

“Parents outsource discipleship to youth ministers—and then blame them for their own children’s struggles. Burnout is real, and youth ministry seems to chew up and spit out far too many young ministers.”

Is it tacky to recommend my own writing? Well, if so, consider this the camouflage recliner in my online living room. I wrote this post a while back for TGC and they posted it yesterday. By today’s writing, it’s the number one trending post on their site. I think I touched a nerve. No doubt it’s a difficult conversation and I’ve gotten a lot of feedback on it.

For my part, I stand by everything I wrote. A number of commenters have disliked my point about money, but I think there’s enough clarity in the post. Don’t take a youth ministry position that will impoverish your family with a salary that will make it impossible to live. But when we consider how much the apostles gave for Christ’s cause, a small pay cut may be the cost of ministry opportunity and the joy of being part of Christ’s work. Either way, I’m interested to know what you think.

2. The Problem of Online Therapy Culture by Samuel James

Sam is usually insightful, and this post is no different. Here’s a snippet:

I worry especially about the dilution of the word “abuse” in [Online Therapy Culture], especially since that word has a distinctly separate etymology in the history of the Internet than it does in offline living. On Twitter, you can report someone for abuse for making a death threat against you or for saying you should root for the Yankees instead of the Mets. Somewhere a faceless moderator will determine which of these is actually abuse, but the power that the Internet bestows on each of us over the word “abuse” seems to merit extreme caution and care if online and offline categories are being intermingled freely, as they are in OTC.

I share his concern. “Abuse” is becoming shorthand in some circles for “you don’t affirm my self-actualized identity” or “you have made me uncomfortable/upset.” Ultimately, this is going to bear really toxic fruit when it comes to assisting actual abuse victims rather than those frustrated by the tone of online interaction.

3. What Bobby McIlvane Left Behind: Grief, conspiracy theories, and one family’s search for meaning in the two decades since 9/11

Undoubtedly, 9/11 is the most pivotal historical moment in my lifetime. I remember exactly where I was, and even reading this you’re probably remembering where you were. As such, I’m a sucker for pretty much any well-written article about that moment and the fallout since. Here’s an excerpt from this article:

This is one of the many things you learn about mourning when examining it at close range: It’s idiosyncratic, anarchic, polychrome. A lot of the theories you read about grief are great, beautiful even, but they have a way of erasing individual experiences. Every mourner has a very different story to tell.

That therapist was certainly right, however, in the most crucial sense: After September 11, those who had been close to Bobby all spun off in very different directions. Helen stifled her grief, avoiding the same supermarket she’d shopped in for years so that no one would ask how she was. Jeff, Bobby’s lone sibling, had to force his way through the perdition of survivor’s guilt. Bob Sr. treated his son’s death as if it were an unsolved murder, a cover-up to be exposed. Something was fishy about 9/11.

The article is wild, and sad throughout. And yet, this time of year I have this innate desire to feel those things, to remember, to never forget.

One Helpful Video, One Video You Can’t Look Away From

In the course of my pastoral work, I end up watching lots of videos. Some good, some not so good. This is a helpful one, and I think you may enjoy it.

Top 3 common mistakes when studying the Bible? by Robert Plummer

How Badminton Birdies Are Made

You will not be able to look away.

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One last bit of bonus content: our beautiful daughter spent 8 weeks in the NICU after being born at 30 weeks. We are now loving having her home. She’s a lot of fun. Have you ever seen a cuter baby? No. You haven’t. She’s now stuffed animal sized and we couldn’t be happier.

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